WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:25.720 Good evening, welcome to Editions For What It's Worth. 00:25.720 --> 00:29.880 I'm your host, Tommy Colletta, and tonight, you know, this is a subject matter that's 00:29.880 --> 00:33.400 funny because I think it's something we don't like to think about. 00:33.400 --> 00:37.000 I know I didn't with my parents and my son. 00:37.000 --> 00:44.200 It's something we, you know, it's uncomfortable to plan for the future, retirement, death, 00:44.200 --> 00:48.960 or whatever, but it's something that when it happens, we wish we did. 00:48.960 --> 00:51.800 Everybody I don't know who it is, whether it's my family, your family, whatever, something 00:51.800 --> 00:53.800 happens and we go, oh, geez, there's no will. 00:53.800 --> 00:55.160 Why didn't we do this? 00:55.160 --> 00:56.800 Or someone gets sick, the elderly. 00:56.800 --> 01:02.120 Well, anyways, we've got the expert on here tonight on this subject, so get out your pen 01:02.120 --> 01:05.680 and because you're probably going to want to write some notes down here. 01:05.680 --> 01:09.800 And like I said, it's a subject that we avoid until it's too late and then we all wish we 01:09.800 --> 01:10.800 did it. 01:10.800 --> 01:13.600 Families start arguing and we know we've all been there. 01:13.600 --> 01:17.440 So tonight we're going to clear it up, so take your pen out, because there's things 01:17.440 --> 01:20.920 you're probably going to want to jot down here and maybe give this gentleman a call. 01:20.920 --> 01:27.240 Anyways, he's not just an attorney who's an expert on estate preservation. 01:27.240 --> 01:28.240 Is that what it is? 01:28.240 --> 01:29.240 Yeah, that's right. 01:29.240 --> 01:30.240 The same in the office. 01:30.240 --> 01:31.240 State preservation, yep. 01:31.240 --> 01:33.040 He's also, he's a big dude. 01:33.040 --> 01:37.800 I get Boston Magazine two years in a row and they picked the 100 best lawyers in the state 01:37.800 --> 01:40.360 and usually around here they don't pick anybody. 01:40.360 --> 01:44.760 It's always everybody from maybe 495 East off, especially 128. 01:44.760 --> 01:49.840 And I'm looking through here, in two years in a row, this gentleman, Brendan King, is 01:49.840 --> 01:52.560 in here of the 100 best lawyers in the state. 01:52.560 --> 01:53.960 So we got the man here. 01:53.960 --> 01:57.160 So you get out your pen and you're probably going to want to give him a call, one, but 01:57.160 --> 01:59.400 you're probably, even if you don't give him a call, you're going to probably want to take 01:59.400 --> 02:01.840 some notes down and see where you go with this. 02:01.840 --> 02:05.880 And I want to welcome to the show, close personal friend and a great lawyer, Brendan King. 02:05.880 --> 02:06.880 Thank you, Tom. 02:06.880 --> 02:07.880 I appreciate it. 02:07.880 --> 02:08.880 Thanks for having me. 02:08.880 --> 02:09.880 All right. 02:09.880 --> 02:16.760 We will get started here with what exactly, let's start out with one, what is the state 02:16.760 --> 02:17.760 plan? 02:17.760 --> 02:18.760 What made you go into that? 02:18.760 --> 02:21.920 I'm always curious because we have people on the show and we have different things of everything 02:21.920 --> 02:23.480 from a plumber to a politician. 02:23.480 --> 02:25.400 I say, what made you want to do this? 02:25.400 --> 02:29.640 What shows this as opposed to law, criminal law, whatever? 02:29.640 --> 02:30.640 That's right. 02:30.640 --> 02:34.640 Well, you know, it's funny, when you go through law, it's almost like when you start college. 02:34.640 --> 02:38.640 I'm always amazed at these kids who are 18 years old and say, hey, I'm going to be an 02:38.640 --> 02:41.920 astronaut or I'm going to be a biomedical engineer. 02:41.920 --> 02:42.920 How do you know? 02:42.920 --> 02:44.920 You don't even have a checkbook, right? 02:44.920 --> 02:45.920 Right. 02:45.920 --> 02:49.320 I mean, there are kids who know these things, I'm always amazed by that, but really what 02:49.320 --> 02:53.100 ended up happening is I ended up going to law school, knew I wanted to do something 02:53.100 --> 02:57.720 in the law and really it was a matter, sometimes a process of elimination. 02:57.720 --> 03:02.460 I tried, I did a little work and did some internships, which I think was very helpful 03:02.460 --> 03:03.960 to do. 03:03.960 --> 03:05.760 Knew that I didn't want to do that, which was nice. 03:05.760 --> 03:09.960 And then had this as my, really my first choice, but really needed to whittle those things 03:09.960 --> 03:10.960 off. 03:10.960 --> 03:15.840 I know you in the past from doing some of the real estate section, you know, did a little 03:15.840 --> 03:18.140 bit in civil litigation, criminal. 03:18.140 --> 03:21.560 So at the end of the day, I just know my personality and I think it's very important for kids 03:21.560 --> 03:26.120 who are going to school just to say, hey, you know, this is what my personality is best 03:26.120 --> 03:27.120 suited for. 03:27.120 --> 03:29.200 You know, it's problem solving and that's really what we do. 03:29.200 --> 03:33.960 You know, we sit down with clients, we work with our clients, it's not adversarial, 03:33.960 --> 03:39.040 it's hey, they come to you, I've got this problem, what can we do together to figure 03:39.040 --> 03:41.480 out a good result for you? 03:41.480 --> 03:44.400 And you know, sometimes clients don't even know what the problem is, so it's really a 03:44.400 --> 03:46.520 nice hands on type of practice. 03:46.520 --> 03:50.160 Because like you agree that what I said, it's a subject we don't like to think about. 03:50.160 --> 03:51.160 Oh yeah. 03:51.160 --> 03:52.160 You agree? 03:52.160 --> 03:53.160 Yeah, absolutely. 03:53.160 --> 03:54.160 Absolutely. 03:54.160 --> 03:58.240 I mean, there are attorneys who do this for a living who don't have their own plan, they 03:58.240 --> 04:01.520 have the state's plan, which is, you know, the intestate statute. 04:01.520 --> 04:04.680 So really it's one of those things that nobody likes to talk about. 04:04.680 --> 04:08.040 If you did like to talk about it, you know, there's probably something wrong with you. 04:08.040 --> 04:09.600 It's something you have to talk about. 04:09.600 --> 04:14.000 Because whether you do your own plan or not, you've got a plan and not having a plan is 04:14.000 --> 04:15.000 a plan. 04:15.000 --> 04:16.360 Alright, let's give some background. 04:16.360 --> 04:18.480 Brendan King, you're from Worcester area? 04:18.480 --> 04:19.480 That's right, Worcester native. 04:19.480 --> 04:21.520 Okay, and your schooling? 04:21.520 --> 04:25.280 I went to, all the way to Holy Cross College, right across the city. 04:25.280 --> 04:27.560 Did my undergraduate work there. 04:27.560 --> 04:34.880 Went to Suffolk Law School for my JD and Boston University School of Law for my LLM and taxation, 04:34.880 --> 04:37.960 which is very helpful for what we do in our area of law. 04:37.960 --> 04:38.960 And you married family? 04:38.960 --> 04:41.240 That's right, I'm married to Canary King. 04:41.240 --> 04:45.760 She was 15 years with the DA's office and now has a practice of her own doing a lot 04:45.760 --> 04:47.840 of criminal defense work. 04:47.840 --> 04:48.840 So she's also a lawyer. 04:48.840 --> 04:52.080 So, you know, I guess we deserve each other, that type of thing. 04:52.080 --> 04:54.200 I get a lot of those jokes. 04:54.200 --> 04:58.400 And then four kids, from eight down, eight to two. 04:58.400 --> 05:01.880 So two, five, six, and eight. 05:01.880 --> 05:03.440 Or seven and eight, I should say. 05:03.440 --> 05:06.440 So yeah, that keeps me busy and keeps me working long hours. 05:06.440 --> 05:07.640 Okay, very good. 05:07.640 --> 05:08.640 Now they know you're credible. 05:08.640 --> 05:09.640 They're saying this guy's not a fake. 05:09.640 --> 05:10.640 He actually has a diploma. 05:10.640 --> 05:11.640 Here you go. 05:11.640 --> 05:14.320 He's one of the 100 best lawyers in the state. 05:14.320 --> 05:15.320 Let's get started here. 05:15.320 --> 05:17.200 They, and again, all right. 05:17.200 --> 05:18.760 What is estate planning? 05:18.760 --> 05:22.480 Again, for someone out there, prices, they're not even thinking about this. 05:22.480 --> 05:23.480 What is that? 05:23.480 --> 05:27.720 You know, estate planning is really what you come in wanting to make it to be. 05:27.720 --> 05:29.920 I think people have a different concept of what it is. 05:29.920 --> 05:32.920 And we hear all the time, people come into our office, Tommy, and they say, hey, I need 05:32.920 --> 05:33.920 a will. 05:33.920 --> 05:35.080 And what they're saying is I need help. 05:35.080 --> 05:36.880 I need help with something. 05:36.880 --> 05:41.680 And what we call in our office, you know, the Rubik's Cube matter of planning your 05:41.680 --> 05:42.680 future. 05:42.680 --> 05:44.600 And really, we're not financial planners. 05:44.600 --> 05:47.960 We're not sitting there, you know, managing your finances per se. 05:47.960 --> 05:51.920 But really, you know, what's going to happen, you know, should the certain circumstance 05:51.920 --> 05:52.920 happen? 05:52.920 --> 05:55.440 For instance, you know, a lot of times people will say, I need a will. 05:55.440 --> 05:56.720 Well, do you know what a will does? 05:56.720 --> 05:57.720 No. 05:57.720 --> 05:58.720 Well, why do you need one? 05:58.720 --> 06:02.920 So, you know, it really is more of a matter of having clients come in, have them fill 06:02.920 --> 06:03.920 out. 06:03.920 --> 06:04.920 We have an intake sheet. 06:04.920 --> 06:06.960 We have an intake sheet with our clients. 06:06.960 --> 06:08.960 Because a lot of times they're not sure what they need. 06:08.960 --> 06:13.000 They think they know that they need to do something, and usually they do. 06:13.000 --> 06:15.840 And it's our job to just say, well, that's true. 06:15.840 --> 06:19.400 In other words, in the Rubik's Cube, you need to do the orange side, but you've got to do 06:19.400 --> 06:20.400 the other sides too. 06:20.400 --> 06:21.400 Okay? 06:21.400 --> 06:22.400 You can't just do one side. 06:22.400 --> 06:25.960 I mean, I used to take the stickers off, you know, and do it that way. 06:25.960 --> 06:27.880 But no, you've got to do it the right way. 06:27.880 --> 06:32.280 And doing it the right way, you get with the right attorney, an attorney who matches, you 06:32.280 --> 06:37.040 know, your personality, works well with you, is not intimidating, you know, doesn't say, 06:37.040 --> 06:38.760 hey, that's a stupid question. 06:38.760 --> 06:44.480 No question is stupid because, you know, it's indicative to us what it is that is important 06:44.480 --> 06:45.480 to you. 06:45.480 --> 06:48.440 And because no matter what we do, we still got to kind of get it back to what the original 06:48.440 --> 06:49.440 concern was. 06:49.440 --> 06:53.120 You find a lot of people that do that, they feel silly asking a question, and they really 06:53.120 --> 06:55.320 shouldn't be embarrassed that they ask that. 06:55.320 --> 06:56.320 A lot of people don't want it. 06:56.320 --> 06:57.320 They feel stupid. 06:57.320 --> 07:03.240 We try to, and you've even been in our, we try to have a very approachable way. 07:03.240 --> 07:04.240 You know, because... 07:04.240 --> 07:05.240 You're not intimidating. 07:05.240 --> 07:06.240 Exactly. 07:06.240 --> 07:09.440 I've been in his office, and you make people feel relaxed that you can say anything to 07:09.440 --> 07:12.200 us and we're not going to snicker or make them feel funny. 07:12.200 --> 07:13.200 That's right. 07:13.200 --> 07:14.200 At least not in front of your face. 07:14.200 --> 07:15.200 I'm just kidding. 07:15.200 --> 07:19.880 But no, but seriously, it's very important to have that relationship where you can pick 07:19.880 --> 07:24.600 up the phone, call the attorney, or send him an email, or her an email, and just say, hey, 07:24.600 --> 07:25.960 listen, I was thinking about this. 07:25.960 --> 07:27.360 Would this happen? 07:27.360 --> 07:31.400 Because if they don't tell us, we don't know, and we can't fix it. 07:31.400 --> 07:37.320 So if we're that intimidating or if that unapproachable time, they won't bring that to our attention, 07:37.320 --> 07:38.500 and we need to know. 07:38.500 --> 07:39.500 Every little thing matters. 07:39.500 --> 07:42.360 Well, things aren't as simple as maybe they were 40 or 50 years ago. 07:42.360 --> 07:43.360 That's right. 07:43.360 --> 07:44.360 They're not. 07:44.360 --> 07:46.400 And I think a lot of times they see an attorney, they say, oh, they're just trying to make 07:46.400 --> 07:47.400 money off me. 07:47.400 --> 07:48.400 And you're not. 07:48.400 --> 07:52.280 It isn't the same as when the mother stayed home, brought up four or five kids or whatever, 07:52.280 --> 07:55.360 and the father went off to work. 07:55.360 --> 07:59.160 These are different now with two people working, the divorces, and you have kids from another 07:59.160 --> 08:02.840 marriage and so on and so forth. 08:02.840 --> 08:06.240 That blended family you just talked about is the typical family now. 08:06.240 --> 08:09.160 It's almost atypical to have the former typical family. 08:09.160 --> 08:11.720 They come in and say, and I'm always like, that's it? 08:11.720 --> 08:12.720 There's nothing else? 08:12.720 --> 08:19.360 Because there's always that child from prior marriage, maybe one of them was adopted and 08:19.360 --> 08:21.680 the other wasn't adopted. 08:21.680 --> 08:26.720 And how do we preserve our estate so that when I married my next wife, but I want assets 08:26.720 --> 08:30.520 to go back to my children from the first marriage. 08:30.520 --> 08:34.840 Then of course the whole issue with special needs children and special needs trusts and 08:34.840 --> 08:37.200 how to protect assets for them. 08:37.200 --> 08:41.640 So when you look at our intake, Tommy, and clients who come in will get an intake sheet 08:41.640 --> 08:44.000 before they come in and we ask them to fill it out. 08:44.000 --> 08:46.360 And they'll say, what are all these questions for? 08:46.360 --> 08:47.720 There's a reason we're asking. 08:47.720 --> 08:48.720 It's because life is complicated. 08:48.720 --> 08:53.160 And if we don't ask you and you don't tell us, that's going to slip through the cracks 08:53.160 --> 08:54.900 and we can't have that happen. 08:54.900 --> 08:58.800 Because it's always those little things that the water and the rock, it'll split it. 08:58.800 --> 09:04.480 Now do you find Brendan that people, like I said, they come once too late and then they're 09:04.480 --> 09:07.800 mad that they didn't do this 10 or 15 years before. 09:07.800 --> 09:11.320 Like in other words, what I'm leading up to, when's a good time? 09:11.320 --> 09:14.000 Let's say it's 30, too young, 40. 09:14.000 --> 09:16.720 What would you say is the time to stop thinking of these things? 09:16.720 --> 09:17.960 You're married, you're 30 years old. 09:17.960 --> 09:18.960 You have one child. 09:18.960 --> 09:19.960 Yeah. 09:19.960 --> 09:22.920 And really what you brought up before is crucial. 09:22.920 --> 09:23.920 It's a different world, right? 09:23.920 --> 09:27.640 I mean, I think in the old days people would go to their attorneys, a general practitioner, 09:27.640 --> 09:33.000 the guy on the corner who did everything, ham and eggs and everything else. 09:33.000 --> 09:36.440 And you would bang your will out, staple a blue sheet on the back of it, stick it in 09:36.440 --> 09:37.440 the file and that was it. 09:37.440 --> 09:38.840 You're done with your estate planning. 09:38.840 --> 09:43.200 But really what estate planning is, it's not just death planning, it's also life planning. 09:43.200 --> 09:48.240 And really what it is, it's a living, breathing plan that grows and goes with you. 09:48.240 --> 09:51.920 So when you get to, you had mentioned 30, is that too young? 09:51.920 --> 09:53.960 Not really because, are you married? 09:53.960 --> 09:54.960 Do you have kids? 09:54.960 --> 09:56.600 We need guardianship provisions. 09:56.600 --> 09:57.600 What's important to you? 09:57.600 --> 10:00.660 And just to know that that plan is going to change over time. 10:00.660 --> 10:03.160 So we can't just stick it on the shelf like we used to. 10:03.160 --> 10:04.860 We have to kind of revisit it. 10:04.860 --> 10:09.320 And so in our office, what we just really tried to harp on is every couple of years 10:09.320 --> 10:12.720 we want to see our clients, whether they think things have changed or not. 10:12.720 --> 10:16.280 And quite often times when we say come on back in, they're like, oh you know what, 10:16.280 --> 10:17.280 something did change. 10:17.280 --> 10:18.760 I bought this or I should have had that. 10:18.760 --> 10:20.440 Should that have gone into my trust? 10:20.440 --> 10:21.760 What do I do with this aspect? 10:21.760 --> 10:26.360 Oh, you know, I'm planning on getting remarried or I'm going through a divorce. 10:26.360 --> 10:30.520 How do these aspects of life, I mean, think about two years ago, how your life has changed 10:30.520 --> 10:31.520 or my life has changed. 10:31.520 --> 10:32.720 Things changed in just a couple of years. 10:32.720 --> 10:35.440 So your plan does need to be revisited. 10:35.440 --> 10:40.000 And now do you find that a lot of families, there's a lot of arguing when people die, 10:40.000 --> 10:43.320 in other words, I should have gotten this and how come I get this? 10:43.320 --> 10:44.320 You running for that? 10:44.320 --> 10:45.320 Yeah, yeah. 10:45.320 --> 10:46.880 And honestly, you have to be specific. 10:46.880 --> 10:48.880 You really need things specific. 10:48.880 --> 10:49.880 You do. 10:49.880 --> 10:51.960 And you need to have them be addressed. 10:51.960 --> 10:55.920 And that's really where the specialist comes in, because the specialist, we do so much 10:55.920 --> 11:01.760 volume that we're more apt to see those issues come up, maybe more than someone who's maybe 11:01.760 --> 11:05.960 doing real estate in the morning and then a divorce in the afternoon, then maybe banging 11:05.960 --> 11:08.380 your will out at night. 11:08.380 --> 11:11.400 We see a lot of this, so we're more apt to come across it. 11:11.400 --> 11:15.160 So our documents reflect prior issues that have come up. 11:15.160 --> 11:23.000 That 12, 13, 14 page intake sheet is born out of our history of going through some of 11:23.000 --> 11:24.000 these issues with our clients. 11:24.000 --> 11:25.400 We're not going to let that one go again. 11:25.400 --> 11:27.360 We're going to ask you about that. 11:27.360 --> 11:32.560 We ask everything from your homeowner's insurance to whether you have long-term care insurance 11:32.560 --> 11:37.120 or whether you have any asset protection concerns, prior bankruptcy, whether your kids have any 11:37.120 --> 11:38.120 issues. 11:38.120 --> 11:43.120 So really, it's more just about, hey, you're living now, protecting your assets while you're 11:43.120 --> 11:46.760 alive, making sure they get to the right place, and making sure they stay in the right place 11:46.760 --> 11:50.360 even beyond, because people want to control assets from beyond the grave, which they can 11:50.360 --> 11:51.360 do. 11:51.360 --> 11:52.360 It's their legal right to do so. 11:52.360 --> 11:53.360 All right. 11:53.360 --> 11:57.080 If you're just joining in here, sometimes people are flipping through the stations. 11:57.080 --> 12:03.400 We've got Brendan King on, and he's in the State Preservation Law Offices on 71 Elm Street. 12:03.400 --> 12:04.400 That's right. 12:04.400 --> 12:05.400 Right down the street, right up the street, I should say. 12:05.400 --> 12:10.920 And 71 Elm Street in Worcester, and again, we're talking on a subject here, and I've 12:10.920 --> 12:12.760 opened the show up in case you're just tuning in. 12:12.760 --> 12:15.800 It's a subject we like to avoid up until it's too late. 12:15.800 --> 12:19.840 What we're going to do with the elderly, that's another thing, too. 12:19.840 --> 12:20.840 People are living longer. 12:20.840 --> 12:21.840 That's right. 12:21.840 --> 12:23.520 And yet, someone isn't well. 12:23.520 --> 12:26.720 We'd like to have them stay at home, but they can't anymore. 12:26.720 --> 12:28.240 And you deal with this. 12:28.240 --> 12:30.260 Big part of estate planning. 12:30.260 --> 12:31.260 It's funny. 12:31.260 --> 12:37.280 When we first started practicing, it wasn't even a real area of law. 12:37.280 --> 12:41.160 It was something that some people did, and asset protection for the elderly. 12:41.160 --> 12:43.440 You're getting older. 12:43.440 --> 12:46.720 You've got long-term care expenses to consider. 12:46.720 --> 12:51.960 You talk about $12,000, $13,000 a month coming out of your estate. 12:51.960 --> 12:55.040 The estate tax maybe isn't so much a concern anymore. 12:55.040 --> 12:59.320 The estate tax levels have risen, federally at least, over the past few years. 12:59.320 --> 13:04.280 The big concern is that has been a growing area of practice, is the elderly and nursing 13:04.280 --> 13:05.280 home planning. 13:05.280 --> 13:08.920 You're making sure that you have assets, that you can take care of yourself, that you 13:08.920 --> 13:10.800 really are where you want to be. 13:10.800 --> 13:12.880 I want to be home. 13:12.880 --> 13:14.240 Long-term care insurance. 13:14.240 --> 13:16.640 Making sure that, taking a look at that. 13:16.640 --> 13:17.640 Is that an option? 13:17.640 --> 13:20.080 And if so, how much should we get? 13:20.080 --> 13:21.240 All kinds of bells and whistles. 13:21.240 --> 13:25.800 Now, we don't sell the insurance, but we're certainly savvy enough and have seen enough 13:25.800 --> 13:29.520 policies to say, hey, this might make sense or not, or at least hook people into the right 13:29.520 --> 13:32.880 professionals so that they can make those decisions on their own. 13:32.880 --> 13:35.560 But also backing that up with maybe some trust. 13:35.560 --> 13:38.320 Maybe protecting your homes in trust, and how does that work? 13:38.320 --> 13:42.120 A lot of misconceptions in the area of long-term care planning. 13:42.120 --> 13:45.440 Okay, Brendan, because the show's flying here because I can see the time's flying. 13:45.440 --> 13:47.440 I want to get a lot of stuff out here. 13:47.440 --> 13:48.440 Okay. 13:48.440 --> 13:49.720 Brendan King, State Planning. 13:49.720 --> 13:50.720 Okay, someone's out there. 13:50.720 --> 13:51.720 What would you suggest? 13:51.720 --> 13:54.360 A starting point to the audience out there. 13:54.360 --> 13:55.600 Someone's sitting there. 13:55.600 --> 13:59.000 They're 40 years old, 45 years old, and they're just sitting there and they say, 13:59.000 --> 14:01.400 you know, jeez, I really haven't put a will together with them. 14:01.400 --> 14:02.400 Yeah. 14:02.400 --> 14:03.400 45, we have a decent job. 14:03.400 --> 14:04.600 I'm married, I've got three kids. 14:04.600 --> 14:06.280 What would you suggest to somebody? 14:06.280 --> 14:07.880 My suggestion would be this. 14:07.880 --> 14:10.880 My suggestion is talk to somebody. 14:10.880 --> 14:13.160 You really don't even know what the issues are. 14:13.160 --> 14:14.960 I think it's important to be educated. 14:14.960 --> 14:17.120 Now, maybe go to a seminar. 14:17.120 --> 14:20.480 You get these things in the mail sometimes, but what I offer clients is this. 14:20.480 --> 14:22.080 We offer free consultations. 14:22.080 --> 14:23.080 So come on in. 14:23.080 --> 14:25.400 It's only going to cost you some time. 14:25.400 --> 14:27.280 Have you fill out the intake sheet. 14:27.280 --> 14:30.240 Talk to you about what your concerns are, and then maybe point you in the right direction. 14:30.240 --> 14:31.600 Hey, you might want to think of this. 14:31.600 --> 14:32.600 These are your options. 14:32.600 --> 14:35.440 Maybe A, B, and C. A lot of times clients will say, well, how much is that going to 14:35.440 --> 14:36.440 cost me? 14:36.440 --> 14:38.440 I always say it's like I'm a mechanic. 14:38.440 --> 14:39.440 I got to look under the hood. 14:39.440 --> 14:41.880 As if you tell your mechanic, hey, my car's making a noise. 14:41.880 --> 14:42.880 How much is it going to cost? 14:42.880 --> 14:43.880 I got to look under the hood, right? 14:43.880 --> 14:44.880 Come on in. 14:44.880 --> 14:46.080 It's not going to cost you anything. 14:46.080 --> 14:47.080 No obligation. 14:47.080 --> 14:49.320 Sit down, buy an hour, and we'll go through it. 14:49.320 --> 14:50.320 Free consultations. 14:50.320 --> 14:51.320 Stop in. 14:51.320 --> 14:52.960 You're at 71 Elm Street. 14:52.960 --> 14:53.960 That's right. 14:53.960 --> 14:55.960 That's not far from our studio here. 14:55.960 --> 14:57.920 Anyway, so they can come in. 14:57.920 --> 15:00.640 It's not going to cost them a thing to come in and sit down with you. 15:00.640 --> 15:01.640 It's just going to cost them some time. 15:01.640 --> 15:02.640 Just say, what do you think? 15:02.640 --> 15:03.640 You've got grandparents. 15:03.640 --> 15:06.080 You might have someone getting ill or something. 15:06.080 --> 15:09.120 They're in their 70s or 80s, and you can get them souped and nuts. 15:09.120 --> 15:10.120 There's no charge. 15:10.120 --> 15:11.120 That's right. 15:11.120 --> 15:12.120 No charge for that. 15:12.120 --> 15:15.440 They'll leave knowing what they should be thinking about, because a lot of times people 15:15.440 --> 15:17.160 don't even know what they should be thinking about. 15:17.160 --> 15:18.160 I agree. 15:18.160 --> 15:21.000 They're thinking, well, I don't really have anything to worry about. 15:21.000 --> 15:23.040 Maybe you do, or maybe you don't. 15:23.040 --> 15:24.240 That's good to find out. 15:24.240 --> 15:25.240 Okay. 15:25.240 --> 15:26.240 Very good. 15:26.240 --> 15:30.280 What are some of the common mistakes that people make out there that you would, right 15:30.280 --> 15:32.400 here, you can give someone their pen out now. 15:32.400 --> 15:36.720 What would you say are the most common things that you run across that people don't do 15:36.720 --> 15:38.440 and they think they're doing it right? 15:38.440 --> 15:39.440 Yeah. 15:39.440 --> 15:43.880 One thing in this area is what I would say is no estate is too small. 15:43.880 --> 15:50.560 No estate is too small, because what we find is that someone has something that they want 15:50.560 --> 15:54.880 to protect, they've earned and worked for something, or maybe they don't have very 15:54.880 --> 16:00.520 much at all and they're trying to maybe protect what assets they do have from the benefits 16:00.520 --> 16:05.120 that they might be on, or maybe they're getting an inheritance, very small estates. 16:05.120 --> 16:08.280 Our office is very... We have a very broad spectrum of clients. 16:08.280 --> 16:12.600 Yeah, because I think sometimes, I'm cutting in on you, but I think sometimes people think, 16:12.600 --> 16:18.320 I've just got a little house, I've lived in it 30 years, it's worth 125,000, 150,000. 16:18.320 --> 16:19.320 Why do I need this? 16:19.320 --> 16:20.320 Right. 16:20.320 --> 16:23.720 That's our bread and butter client, Mrs. Smith on the east side of Worcester with a 16:23.720 --> 16:26.440 three-decker trying to protect it every day. 16:26.440 --> 16:27.440 We're doing stuff like that. 16:27.440 --> 16:31.000 So, if you people out there are watching this, because I know that's a perception, all right, 16:31.000 --> 16:32.400 I might go and see an attorney here. 16:32.400 --> 16:37.240 I really have to have property down in the Cape and in Florida, and it's not really that 16:37.240 --> 16:38.240 way. 16:38.240 --> 16:40.840 Even the guy who doesn't have that much should really consult you. 16:40.840 --> 16:44.360 That's right, because at least, again, it's not going to cost them anything to do so, 16:44.360 --> 16:47.400 and they're going to find out what they can do with what they have. 16:47.400 --> 16:51.100 And certainly that's worth investigating. 16:51.100 --> 16:56.720 The other thing that we see a lot of is make sure that you're seeing a specialist. 16:56.720 --> 16:59.400 You had indicated something earlier that I think is very true. 16:59.400 --> 17:01.340 The world is very complicated. 17:01.340 --> 17:03.320 We don't do anything but this. 17:03.320 --> 17:10.600 We don't even draft the deeds that go with moving some of the properties that we do move. 17:10.600 --> 17:14.400 So very specialized, and I think you need to see a specialist. 17:14.400 --> 17:18.040 Too many people out there are trying to do this type of planning, and they're not seeing 17:18.040 --> 17:19.040 that. 17:19.040 --> 17:22.560 That's a good point, because you wouldn't want to go to a doctor who does open heart 17:22.560 --> 17:26.320 surgery on you, but he's really an expert in knee surgery. 17:26.320 --> 17:30.440 I'd rather go to a guy that just does heart surgery. 17:30.440 --> 17:33.200 I don't want an orthopedic doctor touching my heart, right? 17:33.200 --> 17:35.200 I'll be an equal, yeah. 17:35.200 --> 17:37.880 That's a good point, because they're doing nothing but this. 17:37.880 --> 17:38.880 That's right. 17:38.880 --> 17:39.880 That's right. 17:39.880 --> 17:41.520 And it's a great analogy, and we use that often times. 17:41.520 --> 17:45.520 Hey, you don't go to your... Medicine's a perfect example. 17:45.520 --> 17:48.120 You don't go to your general practitioner to have a stint put in. 17:48.120 --> 17:50.600 You go to your cardiologist. 17:50.600 --> 17:52.640 So that's another one. 17:52.640 --> 17:58.520 And then a lot of times people think that I haven't done any planning. 17:58.520 --> 18:01.400 They'll come into our office and say, well, this is a favorite one of mine. 18:01.400 --> 18:03.400 It's pretty specific, but it happens a lot. 18:03.400 --> 18:07.040 Oh, I thought I could just make... When they're thinking about transferring assets out of 18:07.040 --> 18:11.500 their estate, oh, I thought I could just make $10,000 a year of gifts, and it was okay for 18:11.500 --> 18:13.000 the nursing home. 18:13.000 --> 18:18.600 Be mindful of separate categories of issues, and that's really where specialty comes in, 18:18.600 --> 18:26.360 is that when someone says that, I thought I could give $13,000 a year per person away, 18:26.360 --> 18:28.880 they're talking about a tax thing. 18:28.880 --> 18:33.200 They're talking about what's known as the present interest gift tax exclusion, not nursing 18:33.200 --> 18:34.200 home. 18:34.200 --> 18:38.800 You can't just give away money and not expect to possibly be penalized later if you were 18:38.800 --> 18:42.360 ever to apply for mass health and long-term care planning. 18:42.360 --> 18:46.880 So it's little things like that is what kind of reiterates what I was saying before about 18:46.880 --> 18:47.880 seeing a specialist. 18:47.880 --> 18:51.840 You really need to kind of know... Because we find lawyers are doing these things too. 18:51.840 --> 18:55.720 Even in CPA, we'll find other advisors saying you can do that, just being mistaken on the 18:55.720 --> 18:56.720 facts. 18:56.720 --> 18:59.880 You can do it for one reason, but just because you can do it for one reason, because you 18:59.880 --> 19:00.880 can do it for another. 19:00.880 --> 19:01.880 Very good. 19:01.880 --> 19:04.080 You know, the Rubik's Cube method of planning that we talk about. 19:04.080 --> 19:06.040 So again, give us some common things. 19:06.040 --> 19:10.040 We started a little bit and I'm interrupting you here, but what would you think of some 19:10.040 --> 19:12.040 things that you say to somebody, look out for this. 19:12.040 --> 19:14.160 This is a common mistake, but you think it isn't. 19:14.160 --> 19:16.520 You think you've got it all down. 19:16.520 --> 19:17.520 That's one. 19:17.520 --> 19:22.760 Another one is if you think that just having your home in any trust protects your house 19:22.760 --> 19:28.460 or having a homestead protects your house from the cost of long-term care. 19:28.460 --> 19:31.400 People all the time will come in and say to me, oh, my house is protected, it's in trust. 19:31.400 --> 19:33.080 And I'll look and it's a revocable trust. 19:33.080 --> 19:34.080 Oh, really? 19:34.080 --> 19:36.360 And they'll say, this isn't protecting your house at all. 19:36.360 --> 19:37.800 You know, they think that their house is all set. 19:37.800 --> 19:39.280 I put it in trust years ago. 19:39.280 --> 19:43.040 Well, it depends on the type of trust you put it in. 19:43.040 --> 19:46.840 Also the homestead fact, you know, someone will put there a homestead, which is an asset 19:46.840 --> 19:51.320 protection protective device that you file at the registry of deeds. 19:51.320 --> 19:56.960 We have an automatic one for about $125,000, but you can get one for $500,000 of equity 19:56.960 --> 19:59.920 protection on your home that you can file. 19:59.920 --> 20:03.600 Now that will protect you from, you know, general creditors, but it's not going to 20:03.600 --> 20:05.640 protect you and protect the house from long-term care. 20:05.640 --> 20:07.080 Oh, I didn't know that. 20:07.080 --> 20:08.080 That's interesting. 20:08.080 --> 20:12.080 So, you know, I always assumed that the homestead, you were covered. 20:12.080 --> 20:13.080 There you go. 20:13.080 --> 20:14.080 They wouldn't get it. 20:14.080 --> 20:15.080 Yeah. 20:15.080 --> 20:18.960 I'm glad you came on and make that point because so long-term care, that doesn't apply here. 20:18.960 --> 20:19.960 Doesn't apply. 20:19.960 --> 20:20.960 Doesn't apply. 20:20.960 --> 20:23.960 So you file that homestead, the homestead is actually going to protect you. 20:23.960 --> 20:26.880 You know, if you go out and you hit someone with your car or something to that effect, 20:26.880 --> 20:31.000 I mean, it's based on the theory that everyone needs a place to live, including people who, 20:31.000 --> 20:32.560 you know, do that sort of thing. 20:32.560 --> 20:33.880 You got to live somewhere, you know. 20:33.880 --> 20:35.240 Your retirement plans are protected. 20:35.240 --> 20:37.280 There's certain exemptions that we have. 20:37.280 --> 20:40.320 Okay, so Brendan, so what should someone out there is probably thinking what I'm thinking. 20:40.320 --> 20:41.760 I said, Wayne, I went out and got a homestead. 20:41.760 --> 20:43.320 I figured this is no problem. 20:43.320 --> 20:44.320 What would you tell them? 20:44.320 --> 20:48.560 Well, what I would say is, you know, you may be protected from what your concerns were. 20:48.560 --> 20:52.640 You know, if your concerns were just general being, you know, generally liable for something, 20:52.640 --> 20:56.080 like hitting someone with your car, but if your concerns are nursing home or protecting 20:56.080 --> 21:00.600 your home from the cost of long-term care, no, that's not going to do it at all. 21:00.600 --> 21:06.600 So my suggestion would be come on in and we can talk about options because, again, there's 21:06.600 --> 21:07.960 no one size fits all. 21:07.960 --> 21:12.200 I got to look under the hood and say, this might be an option, but quite often it's 21:12.200 --> 21:16.480 an irrevocable type trust that we would put someone's house in, and that would start 21:16.480 --> 21:20.400 what's called, what's known as that five-year look-back period. 21:20.400 --> 21:24.920 That's something else that people oftentimes mistake to me is that period and how that 21:24.920 --> 21:25.920 works. 21:25.920 --> 21:31.640 You know, people may make the mistake of saying that or thinking that, you know, I don't 21:31.640 --> 21:34.760 have to or I'm too late to do something. 21:34.760 --> 21:38.040 Well, there's never really too late, but you had indicated earlier, which I thought 21:38.040 --> 21:40.880 was a good point, you know, is there a too late situation? 21:40.880 --> 21:44.360 No, you can do stuff right up, but you have more options if you plan. 21:44.360 --> 21:49.640 And really when you're thinking about long-term care planning, the more in advance that you 21:49.640 --> 21:52.880 plan, the better off or the more options you have. 21:52.880 --> 21:56.240 So in the age of divorce, like I told you, that's actually more common now. 21:56.240 --> 21:59.320 75% of the people, I'm just reading the story, get divorced. 21:59.320 --> 22:04.800 So actually you're needed more, what you're doing than ever before because of the children 22:04.800 --> 22:08.080 from the previous marriage and now people are in a third marriage. 22:08.080 --> 22:12.160 So there's a lot more things going on and you want to make sure kids are provided for. 22:12.160 --> 22:13.160 That's right. 22:13.160 --> 22:14.160 That's right. 22:14.160 --> 22:15.160 From a previous marriage. 22:15.160 --> 22:18.520 And you can't just let it go because I think a lot of people just want to turn a blind 22:18.520 --> 22:24.120 eye to it, but as painful as it is to plan, you got to plan because if you don't plan, 22:24.120 --> 22:25.280 it's not going to happen. 22:25.280 --> 22:27.240 At least not in the way that you want. 22:27.240 --> 22:28.240 Something will happen. 22:28.240 --> 22:29.240 Chaos. 22:29.240 --> 22:33.880 You know, and I got to tell you that you've really got to hit the details on that stuff 22:33.880 --> 22:37.400 and make sure and think about, you know, what assets you'd want to leave and are those 22:37.400 --> 22:39.080 the best assets to leave to kids? 22:39.080 --> 22:40.400 Do we leave retirement assets? 22:40.400 --> 22:42.080 Do we leave, you know, the house? 22:42.080 --> 22:43.760 Where's that going to go? 22:43.760 --> 22:47.160 You know, again, special needs planning has become big in recent years. 22:47.160 --> 22:52.240 You know, protecting children with respect to the benefits they may be on, such as SSI 22:52.240 --> 22:53.240 or Mass Health. 22:53.240 --> 22:57.560 You know, those are asset-based programs where kids can't just receive the assets in their 22:57.560 --> 22:58.560 own name. 22:58.560 --> 23:00.200 How do we plan for that? 23:00.200 --> 23:04.000 You can't let it go, you know, especially in special needs planning. 23:04.000 --> 23:05.000 Time's running out here, Shannon. 23:05.000 --> 23:08.560 Could you put up Brendan's identification because I'm sure people want to probably go 23:08.560 --> 23:09.560 in and see him now. 23:09.560 --> 23:10.560 Write it down. 23:10.560 --> 23:12.560 And like you said, consultation's free. 23:12.560 --> 23:13.560 Absolutely free. 23:13.560 --> 23:15.760 So you come in and, good, very good. 23:15.760 --> 23:16.760 Put it up there. 23:16.760 --> 23:19.480 You know, Elm Street, and he's been picked two years in a row. 23:19.480 --> 23:21.480 Boston Magazine, can't even better than that. 23:21.480 --> 23:23.560 One of the 100 best lawyers in the state. 23:23.560 --> 23:26.000 So go in and see him. 23:26.000 --> 23:27.000 Great guy, trust me. 23:27.000 --> 23:30.480 I give my word I've known a long-time family, great family, great people. 23:30.480 --> 23:32.000 So like you said, that's good. 23:32.000 --> 23:36.040 So sometimes people are afraid to go in and go, oh, it's going to cost me $200. 23:36.040 --> 23:38.840 So really, they can come in there, spend an hour with you and find out what's going on, 23:38.840 --> 23:41.720 what isn't going on, and it doesn't cost them a thing. 23:41.720 --> 23:45.520 And if they want to stick with you, go on further, you can handle the whole thing. 23:45.520 --> 23:46.520 Absolutely. 23:46.520 --> 23:47.520 It's a soup to nuts. 23:47.520 --> 23:48.520 Okay. 23:48.520 --> 23:51.520 And we're almost time to get out of here. 23:51.520 --> 23:54.840 Brendan, I've known him a long time, and I'm curious to know our little quiz at the end 23:54.840 --> 23:55.840 of the show. 23:55.840 --> 23:56.840 He's going to take that. 23:56.840 --> 23:57.840 I know he wants to get out without it. 23:57.840 --> 23:58.840 He's hoping it will go a long time. 23:58.840 --> 23:59.840 So anyways, back on question three. 23:59.840 --> 24:04.840 So he's going to get out because we're going to find out here. 24:04.840 --> 24:08.240 His wife's probably going to kill him when he hears the answers. 24:08.240 --> 24:11.040 So let's get your address here. 24:11.040 --> 24:13.480 71 Elm Street, Brendan King. 24:13.480 --> 24:20.720 And email's beking at statepreservationlaw.com and www.statepreservationlaw.com. 24:20.720 --> 24:23.080 Check us out on the web. 24:23.080 --> 24:26.200 And we do have satellite offices as well. 24:26.200 --> 24:27.200 So we do travel. 24:27.200 --> 24:28.200 That's the other thing. 24:28.200 --> 24:32.680 A lot of our clients will wonder, hey, do I got to come in or do I have to come in? 24:32.680 --> 24:33.680 I'm housebound. 24:33.680 --> 24:34.680 We travel. 24:34.680 --> 24:36.040 We're in the car all the time. 24:36.040 --> 24:39.600 So we've really tried to cut all the excuses out because to your point, no one wants to 24:39.600 --> 24:40.600 do this. 24:40.600 --> 24:42.360 So they invent excuses, right, Tom? 24:42.360 --> 24:44.760 So what we try to do is how can we help? 24:44.760 --> 24:46.680 How can we help get you through the process? 24:46.680 --> 24:47.800 Because it's got to be done. 24:47.800 --> 24:49.280 Oh, so you travel to people's houses. 24:49.280 --> 24:50.280 We do. 24:50.280 --> 24:51.280 Oh, this guy's really good. 24:51.280 --> 24:52.280 This guy's really good. 24:52.280 --> 24:53.280 Get a call from you tomorrow. 24:53.280 --> 24:54.280 I know you can drive. 24:54.280 --> 24:58.120 I just get to ask you one question before we go there. 24:58.120 --> 25:03.240 How about if my wife's brake stomp works and suddenly on her car coming down Airport Hill 25:03.240 --> 25:05.760 and she hits a tree and dies? 25:05.760 --> 25:08.200 Do I still get all the assets when we're coming for that? 25:08.200 --> 25:09.440 I'll talk to you after the show. 25:09.440 --> 25:10.440 We can get on it. 25:10.440 --> 25:11.440 Yeah, we'll chat about that. 25:11.440 --> 25:13.200 If your brakes might not work, you know, that happens. 25:13.200 --> 25:16.120 I wouldn't have it exactly happen like that now. 25:16.120 --> 25:17.120 But you know. 25:17.120 --> 25:18.120 Okay, good. 25:18.120 --> 25:19.120 Great guy. 25:19.120 --> 25:20.120 He's the best. 25:20.120 --> 25:21.120 Go in and see him. 25:21.120 --> 25:22.120 He's a very honest family, very good honest guy. 25:22.120 --> 25:23.120 I've known him a long time. 25:23.120 --> 25:28.680 And like I said, I avoided this and I had a tragedy in my family with my wife and there's 25:28.680 --> 25:32.320 a lot of complications there that happened because I put it off. 25:32.320 --> 25:34.640 Like everybody else, we don't like to do it, but you should do it. 25:34.640 --> 25:35.640 It's like anything else. 25:35.640 --> 25:37.760 Like getting a physical, you put it off and put it off. 25:37.760 --> 25:39.160 And then you go in and you hear bad news. 25:39.160 --> 25:41.360 You say, I wish I came to your doctor two years ago. 25:41.360 --> 25:42.360 That's right. 25:42.360 --> 25:45.640 So Brendan King, so he's going to take a little quiz here before we go. 25:45.640 --> 25:46.640 All right. 25:46.640 --> 25:47.640 He says, oh, geez, now he's nervous. 25:47.640 --> 25:48.640 Brilliant guy and they get more scared, right? 25:48.640 --> 25:49.640 Oh yeah, it's personal. 25:49.640 --> 25:52.640 You guys get more nervous about this than they do the other stuff. 25:52.640 --> 25:53.640 It's personal. 25:53.640 --> 25:54.640 Okay, ready? 25:54.640 --> 25:56.280 Favorite all-time TV show? 25:56.280 --> 25:58.600 Favorite all-time TV show, I'd probably say MASH. 25:58.600 --> 26:00.160 MASH, okay. 26:00.160 --> 26:01.600 Favorite all-time movie? 26:01.600 --> 26:03.360 Favorite all-time movie, you got to go with Star Wars. 26:03.360 --> 26:04.360 All right. 26:04.360 --> 26:05.760 Your favorite actor? 26:05.760 --> 26:11.720 My favorite actor, I would have to say, I like Matt Damon. 26:11.720 --> 26:12.720 Matt Damon, okay. 26:12.720 --> 26:13.720 Very good. 26:13.720 --> 26:14.720 Local guy. 26:14.720 --> 26:15.720 Very good actor, yeah. 26:15.720 --> 26:16.720 Favorite actress? 26:16.720 --> 26:19.880 I'm going to say Winona Ryder. 26:19.880 --> 26:21.480 Winona, oh, that's different. 26:21.480 --> 26:22.480 Yeah. 26:22.480 --> 26:23.480 Well, we haven't heard that. 26:23.480 --> 26:24.480 We've been doing this about seven years. 26:24.480 --> 26:25.480 Never heard it. 26:25.480 --> 26:26.480 Very good. 26:26.480 --> 26:27.480 Favorite music? 26:27.480 --> 26:28.480 You know, listen to one type of music or band the rest of your life. 26:28.480 --> 26:31.160 I would say, you know, Grunge Guy. 26:31.160 --> 26:32.160 So Nirvana, Pro Gym. 26:32.160 --> 26:33.160 Oh, Nirvana. 26:33.160 --> 26:34.160 Yeah, yeah. 26:34.160 --> 26:35.160 Very good. 26:35.160 --> 26:36.160 I had hair. 26:36.160 --> 26:37.160 This guy's, very eclectic. 26:37.160 --> 26:38.160 Very good answer, okay. 26:38.160 --> 26:42.920 Favorite food you can only eat one thing the rest of your life. 26:42.920 --> 26:44.960 They say, pick it because this is all you're going to eat now. 26:44.960 --> 26:46.520 All right, I'm going to go with pizza. 26:46.520 --> 26:47.520 A pizza? 26:47.520 --> 26:48.520 Yeah, I'm going to go with pizza. 26:48.520 --> 26:49.720 Pizza for an Irish guy, I know. 26:49.720 --> 26:50.720 I know, very good. 26:50.720 --> 26:51.720 Okay, favorite vacation place? 26:51.720 --> 26:56.880 You know, nostalgic, I'm going to go Cape Cod. 26:56.880 --> 27:00.280 Just growing up down the Cape when I was younger, a lot of nostalgia. 27:00.280 --> 27:03.080 Okay, what's one thing you like about the Worcester area? 27:03.080 --> 27:05.840 One thing I like about the Worcester area is the people. 27:05.840 --> 27:08.960 I'm from Worcester, I'm a Worcester guy, I get Worcester people. 27:08.960 --> 27:14.240 And I think that we have a good relationship. 27:14.240 --> 27:17.920 That's our bread and butter, central mass. 27:17.920 --> 27:20.600 The people are good, hardworking, honest people. 27:20.600 --> 27:23.480 Okay, what's one thing that bothers you about the Worcester area? 27:23.480 --> 27:30.160 I think the one thing that probably bothers me about the Worcester area is the way that, 27:30.160 --> 27:34.720 I would say that it hasn't progressed the way I think it could. 27:34.720 --> 27:35.720 You know? 27:35.720 --> 27:37.320 We haven't tapped into all our resources. 27:37.320 --> 27:38.320 Exactly. 27:38.320 --> 27:40.600 That's funny, that's been on the Instagram, Ronnie, we've been on a long time. 27:40.600 --> 27:44.840 I'll bet you about 60, 70 foot, jump in on that, we're almost out of here. 27:44.840 --> 27:45.840 But you're right about that. 27:45.840 --> 27:46.840 Yeah. 27:46.840 --> 27:49.120 There's so many great things we can have here, we just don't seem to get it. 27:49.120 --> 27:50.120 That's right. 27:50.120 --> 27:51.440 Okay, Brendan King, thanks for coming on, buddy. 27:51.440 --> 27:52.440 Thanks, Tommy, I appreciate it. 27:52.440 --> 27:53.440 Stop in and see him. 27:53.440 --> 27:54.440 Get everything cleared up, all right? 27:54.440 --> 27:55.440 Now we can talk about my wife. 27:55.440 --> 28:12.640 Thanks for having me.